This post is part of my series, Courting the Muse. Subscribers to my email list will receive a weekly prompt focusing on one aspect of creativity.

This week’s prompt sheds light on light.

Here’s the scene: Maggie and I are walking across the meadow when the muse comes outta nowhere, slaps me up side the head and says Whoa! Look at that!!!

So I look and see puddles of sunlight stretching the length of the path like steppingstones. I whip out my phone and snap a few pics. The light will change soon and the path will revert to being just a ho-hum boring gray slash through winter dead weeds.

But right now I see the seeds of a painting. When the muse speaks, I listen.

Back in the studio–who am I kidding, I don’t have a studio because we sold our house and are building another-–right now my studio is a drawing board on the kitchen table of the tiny and tight rental we’re living in while our new house is being built. Gahhhhh…..

Cue the violins. A girl’s gotta whine sometimes, right? Anyway, I set up my drawing board and pull out some ancient watercolors. I haven’t painted with watercolors in over 30 years but I used to teach it. I envision it as being easy peasy, like riding a bicycle.

Hell no! Watercolor sucks! Or maybe I should say that at this time in my life I suck at watercolor.

I need to back up here a bit and explain that the photo of the path is nothing more than a means to jumpstart my creativity. That’s it, nothing more. It’s all part of this muse thing.

There was a time when I may have used it as a reference for a realistic painting but those days are long gone. I paint abstracts now so I’m not constrained by color or reality for that matter.

OK, so I paint over the watercolor with pastel because it was either that or the trash can. I have nothing to lose right now. I add pastel, spray with fixative and add more. Layers and layers of yummy blues with some gold metallic powder. I watch the painting take shape and I fall in love. I’m feeling it, really feeling it. So much I want to keep going, keep exploring this concept.

Thus a series begins. There will be more.

I’m going to keep working on this as a series. When I have a few more, the originals as well as prints will be available for sale online. There’ll be more details in next week’s email. Or not, but soon…

PS. I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment below and let me know how you’re enjoying the weekly prompts. If enough people show interest I can start a private Facebook page where you can share your photographs, poems or whatever you create from Courting the Muse.